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8 Messages
Video quality constantly fluctuating, occasionally freezing suddenly
About a week ago, the video quality on both my Roku Streaming Stick 4K and my Fire TV Stick 4K, started to act up. By act up I mean the video quality is constantly changing as if my internet connection is congested or slowing down. Instead of a constant, high quality stream, it changes between high quality, and lower qualities every several seconds or so with visible stutter on news tickers and and a softer, blurrier picture. Occasionally, especially on the Fire TV Stick 4K, the video will freeze up for several seconds before resuming. And occasionally, it'll show the message that "when the network is congested, your video may not play smoothly" and I get the spinning blue circle. This happens at all times of the day. This happens on multiple (not sure if all) channels, especially noticeable on channels with news tickers like CNN. However, playing DVR content, no issues. Seems only live channels are affected.
Here's the thing. Both my internet connection and Wi-Fi are definitely not slow or congested. I tested the speeds on the devices themselves, multiple times, and am getting over 100 Mbps every time. Also, none of my other streaming services like HBO Max, Pluto, Hulu, have any video quality issues whatsoever. Everything else streams smoothly on the same devices. I've made no other changes to our network or devices or their locations. Everything worked fine a week or so ago. This appears to be an issue on DirecTV's end.
Also, can anyone tell me why the "chat now" button on the support website doesn't do anything when I click on it? I've tried multiple times over different days and hours, using different browsers. Does DTV not want us to contact them by chat? Is there a technical support or customer service email address I can send the above message to?
Anyone else having similar issues recently? If you don't mind tuning into CNN for a few minutes and observe the news ticker to check. But it should be visible on other channels too unless you sit far from the TV.
Thanks.
detuch254
ACE - New Member
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5.2K Messages
3 years ago
This freezing/buffering and sudden poor video quality definitely isn’t happening to everyone. If it were, this forum would become crowded with people claiming the same issue.
So, to answer your final question, no, it isn’t happening to anyone else.
Although, you state the issue is very obvious with CNN. Other than CNN, what other issues are ‘obvious?’ Do you see these issues on a phone or tablet? Could this issue have been related to something that happened one week ago? Have you tried restarting the devices, reinstalling the application, or logging in again with your credentials?
About the chat feature, being we are just customers, we have no clue what DIRECTV’s story is. I believe this may happen when a chat representative is not available or there is a current high volume of chatters. Anyway, I never suggest chatting since those agents often pass on wrong info/make mistakes. It’s always better to call in ( number in my greeting below for DIRECTV STREAM).
Comparing DIRECTV STREAM performance to on-demand services is like comparing apples to oranges. One must constantly continually receive live and ongoing streams from busy servers while services like Netflix already have ALL of their content loaded. Just an FYI..
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user937156
New Member
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8 Messages
3 years ago
Thanks for the reply.
I never claimed this was happening to everyone, just asking if anyone else is experiencing similar issues. Not sure how you would know that "it isn't happening to anyone else." Perhaps you meant that no one else has reported it here yet.
I said the issue is most obvious with CNN because of the scrolling news ticker. When the video quality drops from high to low, the ticker stops scrolling smoothly and stutters and the text appears more blurry, less sharp. This test would be easiest for others to see. To my eyes, it's very obvious on multiple other channels as well, with or without text. Details/sharpness in hair and faces and just overall drops. But people are different and have different setups so may not notice the video quality changing constantly especially sitting further from TV, for example.
To answer your questions, I have tried on a phone and laptop, and did not notice these issues. To my knowledge, nothing happened at my home a week ago that would have caused this. I waited a week to report to see if it would improve, but as soon as I noticed the issue last week, I immediately began to think if anything had changed and began troubleshooting. As previously stated, nothing changed with my setup.
I have tried restarting devices, uninstalling/reinstalling the apps, and logging in again.
Granted, Live TV streaming is different than on-demand streaming. I was simply mentioning that the on-demand streaming on my devices have no video quality issues, which means that it's not a slow or congested connection on my end that's causing the DTV issue. A slow/congested network connection on my end would cause streaming issues with other services as well. I can even stream 4K HDR smoothly on the other services, which uses much higher bitrate than Live 720p DTV streams. So, IMHO, this does appear to be a DTV specific issue.
Any other suggestions?
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drhodes1172
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1 Message
3 years ago
Same thing has been happening to me over the last few weeks. Happens on Roku and Apple TV. Does not happen when I am streaming with my iPhone app though. I've restarted my router, deleted and reinstalled the Directv Stream app, and I'm getting excellent download speed. Does not happen with other streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon, Disney + etc.
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GDaniel767
New Member
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8 Messages
3 years ago
Yes. In last few weeks I have seen momentary lower resolution video streaming (blurry picture) on various channels, while using the Roku on Directv Stream. Apple TV doesn't seem to have this issue. All other apps have no issues (on either device). AT&T Fiber internet here, measured download speed consistently at 370 Mbps.
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user937156
New Member
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8 Messages
3 years ago
Just a quick update that this issue resolved on its own a few days after I posted here. It lasted about 10 days or so. Whatever network/technical issues upstream of me caused this appear to have been resolved.
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MelanieS
New Member
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1 Message
3 years ago
We have been having the same issue. On every channel, it freezes for just a few seconds and goes back to playing but it freezes continuously. Extremely difficult to watch any shows.
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